1st April, 2023
The social media space is currently awashed with reports indicating that the Lagos State Government has banned Eze Ndigbo titles across Lagos State. It should be noted that in several domains in Lagos, there is proliferation of Eze Indigbo titles. Several Igbo leaders even fight to be named Eze Indigbo.
With the presidential and governorship elections over, the equation of things in Lagos changed between the Igbo and the Yoruba, with several comments made heating up the polity. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate in Lagos State, Fredrick Nwajagu, threatened to invite members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to secure the properties of Igbo people in the state.
He was subsequently arrested by the by Joint Security Forces (Police and DSS) on Saturday, April 1, 2023, after he fled his palace but was later traced to a hotel in Ejigbo.
With his arrest, reports began to emanate on social media that the Lagos State Government has banned all Eze Ndigbo titles across the state.
Findings
The report of the ban emanated from a Twitter handle ‘Lagospedia” supposedly belonging to the Lagos State Government. The report read: “LASG abolishes all Eze Ndigbo titles in the State with immediate effect, warns all Lagos State Local Government Chairmen to be at alert.”
This is the story flying on social media, supposedly emanating from the state government. The report has gone viral as many Igbo and others are feasting on it.
A check on the official social media handles of the Lagos State Government on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram reveals that no such information exists. There is no mention of such. Also, the state government has not issued any official statement to the effect that Eze Ndigbo titles across the state have been abolished.
A WhatsApp message sent to the Lagos Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso returns negative. He simply said: “I’m not aware of that.”
Verdict
The report that the Lagos State Government has banned all Eze Ndigbo titles in the state is false. It is Fake News. The Twitter handle where the information emanated from is not the handle of the state government and should be disregarded.
More so, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso said he was not aware of such proclamation from the government. This further lends credence to the fact that the report is false. The Lagos State Government has not banned Eze Ndigbo titles.